How my ideal international open data survey would work

Nick M Halliday
Jul 20, 2017 · 2 min read

It would have a clear easy to find online timetable including key dates

It would be spaced out to avoid clashes with similar surveys

Data used for one survey would be reused by others, that is would not ask exactly the same questions — see point about online form

All the questions would be visible before any attempt is made to answer them.

Any marking system would be transparent and the template with any formula would be online

Any survey would be piloted with users

All questions would be unambiguous

There would be some stability with the core questions over subsequent years so that some real benchmarking is possible. Not an ever moving field of goalposts.

The answers would be quantifiable, so not — how many hack events are there: few, some, many? But instead 4 or less; 5–9; 10 or above

The answers would not be subjective, so not — has open data a low, medium or high impact? But instead…..well what would be a good metric?

It would only have one part

Content would be submitted into a stable online form

The form would be pre-populated with the previous year’s responses so that relevant text could be re-used or overwritten.

There would an open collective discussion around the submission to ensure that results were accurate, realistic and agreed by governments, civil society and businesses etc.

The final submitted answers would be published online

The results would be reproducible

One output would be a clear gap analysis to assist self improvement

Another output would be a two page high level summary of the key findings

)

Nick M Halliday

Written by

Digital and data

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade